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And tonight the rockers turned out to Somerset House in London to commemorate the year with the launch of a retrospective photo exhibition at the venue.

The exhibition will open to the public from tomorrow and spans their entire career from their first gig at London's Marquee Club.

All smiles: They turned up to Somerset House in London to mark the occasion with the launch of a new photographic exhibition

Celebrations: It is 50 years ago today that the band played their first ever gig at London's Marquee Club on 12 July, 1962

In rehearsals: They revealed at the launch that they are practicing ready for some live shows together

And in true rock star style, they managed to have a turn out of musicians, rockers and writers flock to the special event.

The star line-up included the likes of Mick Hucknall, Bill Wyman and Tom Stoppard.

While they were there the band happily posed for photographs as they dressed in an array of outfits, still showing them at their iconic best.

Still going strong: Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts dressed smartly for the anniversary date as other stars flocked to the venue

Crowd pleaser: Jagger was happy to stop for fans as he signed autographs while standing out in an electric blue suit

Lead singer Jagger, 68, stood out in a bright blue suit, while Richards opted for his trademark hat.

And he also took the opportunity to please fans by insisting that they have no plans to retire.

Richards revealed: 'All of this has sort of brought us back together, and we'll see what comes out of it.'

And he also admitted they have already started rehearsals for live shows, causing speculation they are soon set to announce a comeback tour or concert for later this year or in 2013.

But for now they've settled on just reuniting for tonight's special exhibition launch.

Like old times: The photo exhibition opens to the public at Somerset House from tomorrow (Friday, 13 July) and spans their entire music career

Rock royalty: The band welcomed guests including rockers Mick Hucknall and Bill Wyman into the venue for the celebrations

The show, which opens to the public Friday, charts the band's career from their first official photo shoot in 1963 - young mop tops lined up against a row of red phone boxes - to their monster `80s and `90s stadium tours.

Jagger mused tonight: 'You can see when you look at the photos how we couldn't give a hoot about anything. You can just sort of tell by the attitude of those photographs how we didn't care.'

The lineup for the first ever gig at the Marquee Club was vocalist Jagger, guitarists Richards and Brian Jones, bassist Dick Taylor, pianist Ian Stewart and Mick Avory on drums.

'Taylor and Avory soon left the lineup, while Stewart switched to a backup role; drummer Watts joined in 1963, with guitarist Wood completing the line-up in 1975.

Wrapping up: Playwright Tom Stoppard and Heather Kerzner were also in attendance and shielded themselves from the rain as they left

The band had its first hit, a cover of Chuck Berry's "Come On," in 1963, and soon became one of the world's biggest and most influential rock acts, rivaled only by The Beatles.

The Beatles split up in 1970, but the Stones are still going strong - something Jagger attributes in part to an early grounding in versatility.

The Stones have sold more than 200 million records, with hits including (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, Street Fighting Man and You Can't Always Get What You Want.

But in recent years much of their income has come from touring. Their last global tour, A Bigger Bang, earned more than $500 million between 2005 and 2007.

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